Yesterday Carlton’s newest millionaire did all of that and more in his Navy Blue debut.

For two quarters he ran himself to exhaustion, bobbed up with a pair of crunching chase-down tackles, won possessions at will, and charged back into defensive to help his back six.

He might have eventually blown up, adding just five second-half touches to his 13 first-half possessions.

But the 26-year-old emphatically banished the doubts — publicly expressed by former coach Nathan Buckley — that his ankle concerns trumped his $2.8 million price tag.

Thomas said he was thrilled to finally banish all the uncertainty about his ankle despite the team’s loss.

“On a personal note this time of year is about getting out there and getting a game under my belt. I was very confident in how the ankle was, and tonight I showed it will hold up and I will take great confidence out of that and hopefully the boys do too,’’ he said.

“Now everyone can get on with winning games of footy. It is frustrating for me that I missed last week with illness and everyone is saying your ankle is cooked. Hopefully now I can get on with playing footy and everyone can shut up and start bagging me about form or something else.”

Thomas’ kicking was a standout in a scrappy first half. Picture: Michael Klein.Source:News Corp Australia

He wasn’t Carlton’s best player last night, but that is exactly the point.

Thomas doesn’t have to be, he only needs to help Carlton with what Mick Malthouse is crying out for and what Lyon actually admired amid the hype.

His famed defensive intent, and that blistering outside speed.

Those elements were there in spades in the first half last night, in a game where few would have forgiven Thomas a large slice of ring rust.

The Thomas bounce was back, but it was the 1 per centers doing the talking tonight. Pic MSource:News Corp Australia

The flashy stuff is just a bonus, as it was in the first term when he climbed gloriously over Daniel Talia and Jarryd Lyons to mark then set a teammate free with a searing handball.

What would have had Malthouse giddy in the box was the diving smother attempts, the first-quarter take-down tackle on Luke Brown and the smart decision-making with the football.

Just 21 minutes into the second term he had knocked up with those 13 silky possessions playing wing and half forward.

From there he spent most of the second half with hands affixed to hips and tongue lolling out of his mouth.

“I think I needed to apply some pressure and getting a bit of the ball early was nice for the confidence, but as a team that defensive side is where we are trying to improve,” he said.

“We have got another match, another good hit-out and that’s probably all I will need. I will rest up, go again, and hopefully be right for Round 1.”

But in every way — fitness, form, impact — it was a highly accomplished debut for a player who took whose last senior game was against Lyon’s Fremantle in Round 7 last year.

Malthouse played him everywhere — he started at half forward, played mostly on the wing, then finished him forward again.

And while he faded badly, the Blues had enough faith in his body to allow him four quarters when the likes of Jarrad Waite and Bryce Gibbs spent the last term on the bench.

Malthouse provides instruction to an exhausted Thomas at the three quarter time break. PiSource:News Corp Australia

Success for Thomas last night was lasting the entire contest.

He did that and much more.

Both Thomas and the Blues will have to build after being over-run in the second half, but Malthouse would have had an eye firmly fixed on Round 1.

The Blues gave up a durable proven goal-kicker in Eddie Betts as a free agent, then used some of that cash to secure injury-prone Thomas.

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